|
|
 |
We all know about 'Oklahoma!'
But what about 'Nebraska!'?
of TheColumnists.com
Aficionados of unfamiliar songs from old, obscure musicals -- like those unearthed on such CD collections as "Unsung Sondheim," "Lost in Boston," Ben Bagley’s Revisited" series and Michael Feinstein’s songwriter salutes -- look forward to more anthologies of songs cut from shows that themselves often failed to open.
Musical theater fans can scarcely await the release this fall of "Irwin (Pip) Lortz Revisited," a 23-song compendium of his entire oeuvre. It was Lortz’s unhappy fate to have never written a song that was included in a Broadway show, though he came close on more than one occasion. In the unsung "Nebraska!", which closed prior to callbacks, he was replaced out of town by Sammy Fain and Moose Charlap, who subsequently left the show after dinner.
Among the songs that just missed opening
night -- in two cases being yanked during the overture -- are
such deserved near-classics as "I Call the Wind Martha,"
"What Kind of Putz Am I?," "On the Cul-de-Sac
Where You Live," "Gold Necklaces Are A Girl’s
Best Friend" and "Someone to Keep an Eye on Me From
Above." While critics claimed Lortz’s work was often
derivative, devotees insist he was ahead of his time, or in some
instances behind it.
 |
|
Several rediscovered songs dropped from major Broadway musicals are collected in "The Unknown Roger Hammerstein" and include many numbers that were unaccountably cut out of town and occasionally shredded. Among the more noteworthy lost classics are "So Where’s the Queen?" and "Waltz of the Victorian Governesses," both dropped from a New Zealand production of "The King and I"; "If Yore A Girl That Cain’t Say No, Ah Kin Say Yes to That!" from a revised version of "Oklahoma!" later settled out of court; "The Nun and the Nazi Should Be Friends Ballet" and a reprise, "Treacle is My Least Favorite Thing," both from an aborted sequel, "The Scent of Music"; and Julie’s soliloquy from a staged reading of "Carousel" sung after being struck by Billy: "My Boy’s Ill."
That bottomless warehouse in Paramus, N.J., source of so many great lost Gordon and Irv Gangreene songs, has provided collectors of showtunes witih still more soon-to-be gems heard on a new release, "Neglected Gangreene," in which a little-known sequel to their trilogy of political satires has now surfaced, the most haunting of which are "Mushy Me, Lushy You" and "’Swhatchadoin’?"
Those who think the last of Stefan Sublime’s unused songs -- with their inimitable yet inaudible rhymes and perversely fragmentary atonal tunes -- must surely have found their way to the record shops, have a possible treat in store: "The Unsound Sublime," a collection of the songwriter’s unfinished, often bizarre snatches of songs plucked from his trash basket by a sharp-eyed, quick-thinking house guest, Ardley Hammacher.
The dissonant melodic scraps and disconnected lyrics were patiently pieced together by Hammacher into what, in many cases, sound very much like actual songs from Sublime’s hit shows. A few of those most likely to become future cabaret standards include "Impassioned/Impasse," "Crazy Guys with Guns (Can’t Love)," "Me-We-You-I-They," "Pretty Sailor Up A Tree" and the catchy "Half a Love Is Better Than None...or Is It?"
Mickey Steinway, the aging boyish pianist, crooner and curator of old showtunes, is back this fall with yet another arcane collection of overlooked goodies. This time it’s "The Unrecollected Manny Flann," probably best known as the lyricist for "Flappers of 1947," a short-lived attempt to recreate the Jazz Age in a post-war setting. The show closed during intermission.
|
"If Yore A Girl That Cain’t Say No, Ah Kin Say Yes to That!" |
 |
Although critics praised the chorus girls’ legs and many of the props, they somehow forgot to single out Flann’s two major contributions to the show, both cut from the original cast album due to a dubbing problem: "Boop-A-Doop Blues" and the wistful "I Wanna 23 Skidoo with You." As Steinway points out in the liner notes, neither tune has ever been sung in public since the show, not even by the songwriter.
Copyright 1999 by Gerald Nachman. The cartoon images are from IMSI's Master/Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA.
| Home | About Us | Archives | Talkback | Shopping Mall |